Various types of telescoping antenna rods and mast structures have been suggested and/or used in various fields to take advantage of the portability of relatively short structures which may, on site, be extended into relatively long or high structures, including those of said parent application and those of prior art references cited during the prosecution thereof, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,328,921 (Keslin), 2,339,327 (Fox), 4,357,785 (Eklund), 2,945,303 (Muehlhause et al.) and USSR Patent SU930442, considered the most pertinent by the Patent Office in the prosecution of said parent and continuation applications. The problem of providing a very lightweight, but structurally strong, telescoping tower for an antenna or similar rig that may be erected and collapsed in a portable manner has not, however, been satisfactorily addressed in terms of each of weight, numbers of different types of parts (and consequent complexity and cost), simplicity of erection and lowering, and stability, particularly for tall structures, and guy wire requirements.